Disney shows off groundbreaking animation technique in Paperman short

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Chances are if Disney creates an animation and it’s got Pixar’s John Lasseter involved, it’s going to be worth your time to watch it. And that’s exactly what the animation short called Paperman above is, except there’s a lot more to this video than just a great story and artwork.

The short is directed by first-time director John Kahrs. He got the idea for Paperman while working at Blue Sky Studios, the studio best known for the Ice Age movies. But Kahrs wanted the “expressiveness of 2D” combined with CG that brings with it “stability and dimensionality” for his latest work, and that required a new software.

In order to make Paperman happen a new tool was developed in-house at Disney called Meander. Although there are few specifics about what Meander is, it is best described as allowing the underlying CG of an animation to be modified with 2D drawings by individual artists in order to convey more detail. That technique also meant artists don’t have to specialize and focus all their time on making specific areas, such as cloth, hair, or fabric, look believable. They can instead form into a team and all pitch in on different areas of the production.

As Paperman demonstrates, using Meander to create the animation allows for a lot of emotion and natural movement to be apparent. It has also lead to the short being nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards after premiering at the Annecy International Animated Film festival last year.

The reason Paperman has come to light now is because it ran before Wreck-It Ralph in movie theaters late last year and has just been uploaded to YouTube by Disney for everyone to enjoy.